The invention relates to a smokers' lighter of the so called "box-type", that is the type having a substantially rectangular casing of elongate horizontal cross section and the upper part of which is constituted by a lid which is connected to the remainder of the casing so that the lid may be swung upwards generally adjacent to a narrower edge of the casing. In order to operate the lighter the lid is first swung upwards to expose the burner, after which an actuating member is actuated manually to operate an ignition system.
Modern lighters are gas burning and the predominant trend for some fifteen years has been for the gas to be ignited by a discharge adjacent to the burner of an electric spark derived either from a piezoelectric unit or from a battery energised circuit within the lighter. In a box-type lighter the raising of the lid conventionally opens the gas valve and the electrical ignition system is then operated by actuating a piezoelectric mechanism, or a button or other switch member in the case of a battery energised circuit. It has been customary for these actuating members to be adjacent to the narrower edge of the lighter casing remote from the lid hinge, particularly when, to avoid accidental operation of the ignition system, the actuating member is only exposed for operation or made operational when the lid has been raised. This positioning of the actuating member has been inconvenient. It requires the burner to be situated nearer to the lid hinge and hence adjacent to the lid so that the flame is not as readily accessible for use as would be desirable, or the actuating linkage has to by pass the gas tank or burner valve.